USA Today Never Labels Spitzer as Dem, But Tags Craig and Vitter

In 1,760 words, Tuesday's front page USA Today article on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer never identified him as a Democrat, not even in photo captions, though the online version was updated with his party affiliation, yet described Senators Larry Craig and David Vitter as Republicans in the first mentions of their names in the story. Here's the lead of the hard copy edition delivered to the MRC…
Brent Baker

'Today' Spends 4 Hours Ignoring the 'D' Next to Spitzer's Name

With four hours of air time to fill NBC's "Today" show devoted a whopping 11 segments to the Eliot Spitzer scandal but not once did any of the show's anchors, reporters, guests, talking heads or even on-screen graphics mention the fact that Spitzer was a Democrat. "Today" co-anchor Meredith Vieira set the tone when she ignored Spitzer's party affiliation as she opened the March 11, "Today" show…
Geoffrey Dickens

Seattle P-I Blogger Laments Disgrace of Spitzer, 'Hero to Consumer Cru

Saying that he's "breaking our hearts," Seattle Post-Intelligencer "Big Blog" breaking news editor Candace Heckman is chagrined about the probable demise of Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-N.Y.). Yet while Heckman praised Spitzer as an intrepid friend of Everyman, the populist defender of the masses against powerful Big Business.Not once did Heckman note Spitzer's party affiliation in her March 11 post (…
Ken Shepherd

AP Notes GOP Affiliation of Lawmaker Calling Gay Agenda 'Bigger Threat

We've written at NewsBusters at how reticent the Associated Press is to note the Democratic Party affiliation of controversial or disgraced politicians, the latest of which is New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. But right off the bat the AP yesterday disclosed the party affiliation of an Oklahoma state legislator strongly critical of gay rights activists. OKLAHOMA CITY – A Republican member of the…
Ken Shepherd

Joy Behar: 'I Am Sick of Men

Anti-male sexism once again became a topic on the March 11 edition of "The View." Discussing New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s prostitution scandal, Joy Behar, who called men "idiots" who "think with Mr. Happy," shouted "I am sick of men and their sexual proclivities." Sherri Shepherd quickly responded "don’t put it on men." Elisabeth Hasselbeck noted the prostitute was a woman and "there are two…
Justin McCarthy

CBS ‘Early Show’ Makes No Mention of Spitzer Being Democrat

At the top of Tuesday’s CBS "Early Show"a 1,612 word story on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s sex scandal did not feature the word ‘Democrat’ even once, nor was the word used in any further coverage of Spitzer during the show. A 'D' did appear briefly next to Spitzer's name on screen at two points during the show, for a total of 14 seconds. In addition, the story portrayed Spitzer as a great…
Kyle Drennen

Lying About 'Sin?' Media Botch Another Vatican Story

[Update, 5:39 pm Eastern: The Acton Institute's office in Rome has provided an English translation of Bishop Girotti's interview. In it, the bishop has his own criticism for the media. "[I]t is necessary also to denounce the emphasis given to the media that on a daily basis casts discredit on the Church.]A supposed list of "new sins" from the Vatican, such as pollution and genetic manipulation,…
Matthew Balan

A Positive Image for Women

Kathleen McKinley

NB's Noel Sheppard on 'Glenn Beck' Dissects Anatomy of Left-wing Smear

NewsBusters Associate Editor Noel Sheppard appeared on the March 10 "Glenn Beck" program on CNN Headline News to discuss the left-wing Web's recent smear of the radio host. Beck was taken out of context for comments he made about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). [See Sheppard's related March 8 blog entry here.]Video (4:18): Windows Media (15.7 MB), plus MP3 audio (1.94 MB). Here's the transcript:…
NB Staff

NYT Scoffs at 400+ 'Skeptical' Scientists, Elevates 44 Green Southern

Remember when more than 400 scientists were revealed as "skeptical" about global warming hype? The New York Times's Andrew Revkin blogged about it, saying the "perennial tug of war" was actually "a distraction from fundamentals that are clearly established." Of course, 44 Southern Baptists who buy into the green agenda received a respectful print story in the March 10 Times, widely quoting the…
Amy Menefee Payne

Party Labels by the Numbers: Democratic Affiliation Often Ignored by A

ABC News has a photo montage of political sex scandals, featuring both Republicans and Democrats. But a few bloggers have noted that the captions for these photos often ignore the Democratic Party affiliation of Democrats while highlighting the GOP affiliation of Republican.Out of 13 pols featured, there were five Democrats, four of whom (80 percent) were unidentified by party. Of the eight…
Ken Shepherd

CNN’s Costello Focuses on GOP Scandals, Mentions Democrats in Passin

CNN correspondent Carol Costello, in a report on Monday’s "The Situation Room," tried to put the Eliot Spitzer scandal into a better light by focusing entirely on past Republican scandals, and only mentioned two examples of Democrats caught in scandal -- Bill Clinton and Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank -- in passing.Other than Idaho Senator Larry Craig, Costello brought up Republicans who…
Matthew Balan

Eliot Spitzer Scandal Inspires Plethora of Jokes and Parody Songs

Perhaps New York Governor Eliot Spitzer believes he can weather the firestorm over his scandal about his patronizing of a high-class prostitution ring. However, he is battling an element that will keep his scandal alive in the public more than the usual political scandal---humor. Spitzer's breaking scandal is less than a day old and already the media and the blogosphere is filled with many jokes…
P.J. Gladnick

BBC 'Sympathetic' to Bible's Judas and Pilate Characters in New TV Ser

Judas Iscariot was really, really torn about betraying Jesus and was just misunderstood, anyway. And Pontius Pilate? Well, he was just an honest, but beleaguered public servant who was just trying to please his wife. Both men were not really bad guys.... or at least that is how the BBC will present these characters in their newest re-imagining of the final days of Jesus Christ to air this Easter…
Warner Todd Huston